Naruto: Human no more!
by Kasharo
Summary: Naruto gets murdered. Before succumbing to his wounds he strikes a deal with Kurama and gets resurrected as a half-demon hanyou. How will this turn of events impact his life? Slightly AU, Hanyou!Naruto, Pairings undecided.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Summary:**  
><strong>Naruto gets murdered. Before succumbing to his wounds he strikes a deal with Kurama and gets resurrected as a half-demon hanyou. How will this turn of events impact his life?<strong>

**Slightly AU, Hanyou!Naruto, Pairings undecided.**

**Please read and review.**

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><p><strong>Intro<strong>

Ten years ago a nine-tailed fox suddenly appeared. Its tails lashed out, smashing mountains and sending tidal waves crashing to the shores. The ninja rose up to defend their villages. One shinobi faced the nine-tailed fox in mortal combat. He sacrificed his life to capture the beast and seal it in a human body. This ninja was known as the Fourth Hokage.

**Chapter 1: The Death of Uzumaki Naruto**

**++ Konohagakure no Sato, October 10th ++**

The boy lay on the ground of the alley, his body curled in on itself, his hands wrapped around his head and his face tucked against his knees in the fetal position. He was surrounded by an angry, drunken mob – but instead of brandishing torches and pitchforks they carried shuriken and kunai, some of them even used their training as a shinobi to mold their chakra into fire, flinging small fireballs at the helpless boy. His clothes were already torn and shredded as was the bare skin beneath the smoldering fabric: dark bruises bloomed on his tanned skin, he was covered with numerous cuts – most of them rather shallow, some of them deep enough to be considered life-threatening – and burns of varied degrees ranging from simple blisters to charred flesh.

When they begun tormenting the blond boy, he kicked and punched his assailants to no avail while shouting and crying for help, of course, yet nobody could hear his pleas – after all the village was celebrating the famous Kyuubi Festival, and the sounds and noises of people laughing and having a good time not too far away and colorful fireworks exploding in the nightsky drowned the boy's voice rather easily. Even if someone heard him and came to his rescue, bitter experience taught the boy that they were just as likely to join the mob in beating him.

Soon the shouts and screams stopped and turned into mere sobs as he lay there, helpless, soaked in a growing puddle of his own blood. The boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto, and today was his tenth birthday and the tenth anniversary of the Yondaime Hokage's victory over the vicious Nine-tailed Demon Fox.

A kick sent the boy sprawling on his back - it all happened so fast, and yet for Uzumaki Naruto time seemed to decelerate into slow motion. He saw it coming, and still couldn't do anything to avoid it. All he could do was watch as the one who kicked him drew a kunai from a thigh holster and dove forwards to slip the edge into his body.

It felt utterly surreal for the blond.

At first it didn't even hurt as the sharp knife jabbed frontal at the left side of his chest, easily piercing through the remains of his orange shirt, skin, flesh and bones skirting a rib or two. It carved a path of destruction through his left lung and struck a glancing blow at his frantically beating heart by sheer luck.

Naruto coughed and warm blood splashed over his opponent and sprinkled a series of large crimson drops across the left side of his face, adding a bit of color to the pale complexion of his skin as they drooled down his cheeks like bloody tears. His cerulean eyes opened wide as at last sudden pain jolted through his chest, and he focused his surprised gaze on his enemy - just in time to see the manic, gleeful expression on his attacker's face as the man tugged the kunai out again.

"This is for my wife. Now DIE, Kyuubi!" he hissed with a voice full of malice.

Tiny bubbles of blood appeared at the corners of Naruto's lips in the form of a reddish foam, and they burst as quickly as they were created, forming two small rivulets of blood down to his chin. The blond boy's blue eyes glazed over and he slumped to the side. He watched as utter darkness formed at the edge of his vision, growing bigger and bigger with every passing moment.

_'Am I dying?'_ Naruto thought.

An ant crawled across the ground, antennae twitching, carefully avoiding the expanding puddle of crimson fluid. It was a tranquil scene. Now if there wasn't that pesky darkness creeping in from all sides, maybe then he would be able to appreciate the sight a little more. Mildly amused by that thought, Naruto finally slipped into unconsciousness.

**++ Naruto's mindscape ++**

The sound of water dripping on the floor caught the young blonde's attention, and he opened his eyes. Everything was pitch black, surrounded by darkness.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

"Where am I?" His voice echoed through the lightlessness.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

It was as if the environment was waiting for the boy to speak those words. Light flickered into existence and illuminated the space around him, though the view didn't bring the answers to his question. He found himself facting what seemed to be a narrow tunnel that led further into the darkness. A thin layer of water covered the floor, courtesy of dozes of apparently leaking pipes lining the walls and the ceiling.

Behind the blond was...nothing: no path, no walls, no ceiling. Everthing just ended into black nothingness behind him, causing the boy to take a step away from it insintinctively.

"Weird. Only one way to go..."

With his choices severly limited, Naruto decided to follow the tunnel, and somehow the indeterminable light source tagged along, surrounding the boy with a flickering halo. After a little while – minutes, hours, days? - the tunnel widened into a huge room, and his companion light flared, yet it merely managed to turn the darkness into a vague gloom, unable to banish it altogether. Nevertheless Naruto could see well enough to the other side of the hall, and he saw his path blocked by a massive cage-like portal. And behind it – two gigantic crimson eyes blinked open and stared back at the boy from the shadows.

"So my jailor has finally come to visit me in my prison." the creature behind the bars laughed in a deep, hoarse drawl, and it pulled its lips back, exposing two rows of terrifying teeth in a mocking grin. "For the first time and most likely for the last time."

"A-Are you Shinigami-sama? Am I dead?"

The creature roared with laughter at the question.

**"Me? Shinigami-sama?"** the being behind the bars chuckled, its voice echoing through the air.

**"Not quite, ningen. No, I am not Shinigami-sama. I am the Kyuubi no Yoko, mightiest and most powerful among all the biju."** The light flashed a little brighter than before, and the increased illumination revealed the orange-furred Nine-tailed Demon Fox in all its glory. **"And no, you are not dead. Yet."**

"B-but that's impossible, 'ttebayo! We learned at the academy that the Yondaime Hokage killed the Kyuubi! See! See! So you can't be the Kyuubi, you have to be an impostor! Who are you really?!"

**"Silence! Your precious Yondaime could not kill me even on his best day. I am immortal. I am hatred. I am malice. I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"**

Naruto instinctively slipped one step backwards without taking his eyes of the massive tailed beast.

**"He had the audacity to call upon Shinigami-sama and sacrificed his own life and the life of his mate to seal me into you, ningen, thus depriving me of my freedom once more."**

"If you're speaking the truth, then that must be why everyone hates me so much. They think I am you!" the blond growled and raised a hand to point his index finger accusingly at the huge Kyuubi. "It is all your fault. Because of you..."

**"Because of me you survived all the earlier attempts to maim and kill you with barely a scar to show. Because of me you were never sick and nothing but the most potent poisons affected you, giving you maybe a bit of a stomach ache. I even kept you reasonably healthy despite your unnatural obsession with Ramen."**

"Hey! Ramen is the food of gods and..." Naruto interrupted in his usual obnoxious loud tone and was in turn cut short by the demon fox.

**"Because of me you had unlimited potential as a mortal shinobi."** the large kitsune drawled on behind the bars of its cage. **"True, I have had selfish reasons to do so, yet I could have simply chosen not to aid you with my power."**

The blond boy was about to protest, however suddenly the expression on his face turned thoughtful and somewhat suspicious. He didn't like the odd gleam in the towering demon's eyes. Remorse. It almost looked like the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko felt a twinge of remorse and pity.

"W-wait. Why are you talking about me like that?" A horrible idea formed in his mind, yet he could not bring himself to say it out loud. Kyuubi, on the other hand, had no scruples about it.

**"You are dying, ningen. Outside this...mindscape of yours...your real body is still in that alley being kicked, stabbed and cut by those ignorant villagers. And this time I'm afraid that even I can't heal you. You can thank your Yondaime for that, too."**

"B-but I don't want to die, 'ttebayo! I want to become a shinobi and one day be Hokage, too! Why can't you heal me, you stupid bakekitsune?!"

Before the Kyuubi could reprimand the boy, a sudden earthquake-like tremor caused the whole sewer to shiver and shake, sending concentric circles rippling across the thin film of water and dislodging a trickle of dust from the high ceiling. The demon's cage groaned quietly as the disturbance traveled through the metal, though it held, stood firm and endured the stress. As quickly and unexpected as the quake started, it stopped again, and room fell silent once more, though a sense of danger lingered in the air.

**"The seal that keeps me imprisoned inside you was designed by the Yondaime to keep my influence on you to a minimum while at the same time stealing a miniscule amount of my power to merge with your own. It prevents me from flooding your system with more energy and heal the wounds in your chest. After all you are suffering from a kunai stab to the heart and lungs, ningen."** Kyuubi rumbled with a annoyed glance at the lock of the cage, hidden behind a simple slip of paper with the kanji for 'Seal' on it. **"And so you are slowly bleeding to death, and you are taking me with you. Of course, being an immortal, nearly all-powerful biju I will return to life in a few years and to wreak havoc on his pitiful village once more."**

Naruto trembled with fear at the thought of dying so young without his dreams and hopes being accomplished and fullfilled. Somehow the image of an enraged Kyuubi suddenly reforming in the heart of the village appeared in his head, leaving chaos and destruction in its wake – oddly enough that idea disturbed the blond boy much more than his own impending demise. His friends probably wouldn't stand a chance – after all there was no Yondaime Hokage any more to seal the biju away again. Sarutobi-jiji and that nice Inu-masked ANBU-san, Iruka-sensei and Sakura-chan, hell, even that bastard Sasuke-teme – they were his friends and they would die defending their home.

_'There has to be something I can do!'_

Steeling his resolve, Naruto glanced up at the huge kitsune with a serious expression on his young features.

"Oy, Kyuubi." he called in the most respectless tone possible. "How about we make a deal, bakekitsune?"

**"A deal, ningen?"** Kyuubi laughed deeply. **"What could you possibly have to offer to a biju like myself?"**

"Freedom from this seal." Naruto was completely calm – at least on the outside.

The Nine-tailed Fox merely snorted through his nostrils, thereby nearly blowing the blond boy on his back.

**"Your short attention span marvels me. I just told you that I will return to life in a few years while your body rots in a grave. My freedom is already guaranteed, ningen."**

"That's not what I meant, Kyuubi. There has to be a way for me to break the seal on my own free will, so I can let you out. If I do that I want you to promise and swear to me on your soul and Kami-sama that you will leave the village immediately, and do no harm to the inhabitants of the Hi no Kuni ever again."

For the first time in hundreds of years the powerful Kyuubi no Yoko was rendered speechless, even though it lasted only for a moment.

**"Hn. You are really something, gaki. The villagers murder you, and yet you still try to protect them from me."** the Nine-Tailed Fox growled and shook his head in disbelief. **"Others would be lamenting their death or at least seething and longing for revenge."**

"Promise me that you will spare the village and Hi no Kuni from your wrath and I will open the seal and set you free, 'ttebayo. I never go back on my word. That's my nindo – my ninja way."

A stronger tremor rocked the sewer in the blond's mindscape, and then all hell broke loose: at the beginning it was just a single, shallow crack in one the walls but soon there were dozens, hundreds of them, tearing the masonry apart and creating deep fissures and holes in the walls, the ceiling and the floor from one moment to the next. The shallow layer of water almost instantly drained away. The whole place was coming apart, crumbling bit by bit and leaving behind nothing but an utterly dark void.

**"And how would you know that I would keep my word, ningen?"** Kyuubi growled and eyed the walls warily as Naruto's mindscape continued to deterioate. Time apparently flowed a lot slower in his mind than in the real world, yet it seemed that the boy's grievous wounds finally cought up with him. **"Why would you trust me at all?"**

"You said it yourself. You were looking after me all this time despite being your jailer. I-I think I can trust you. Besides I have nothing to loose anymore."

Suddenly a small vortex of wind appeared around the young blond – it lifted him off the crumbling ground in front of the cage, and he climbed higher and higher until coming face-to-face with a huge sheet of white paper with the kanji for 'Seal' written on it. Naruto grabbed one corner of the paper and glanced at the fox.

"Do we have a deal?"

A stunned expression on his features, the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko nodded. **"We have a deal. I swear upon Kami-sama and my own soul that I will honor it."**

The boy didn't hesitate and quickly yanked the page off, revealing the true lock of the ingenious seal that imprisoned the Nine-Tailed Fox in his body. There was a spark of foreign chakra – the blond could feel it jolting through his mindscape body – and for one moment he expected something – anything – to happen. Nothing.

"You know, even though I've only met you now, I can feel that you are not the big, bad bakekitsune. I'm glad that I got to talk to you at least once, dattebayo! Arigatou, Kyuubi, for everything."

Naruto clenched his right hand into a fist. The boy lunged out and focused all his strength into a single punch, shattering the intricate mechanism with one strike to the sheer astonishment of the giant demon fox.

For a moment the disintegration of the blond's mindscape seemed to crawl to a stop as the Kyuubi nudged the massive cage doors open in front of Naruto. The demon's lips curled into a terrible grin, flashing rows of razor-sharp teeth and two sets of prominent fangs at the boy, though there was no threat in that expression - merely a hint of...respect.

**"You are really one of a kind, Uzumaki Naruto."** Kyuubi drawled and pushed a human-like fist towards his jailer. The blond boy beamed at the fox and bumped his considerably smaller fist against one of the demon's knuckles, experiencing the surprisingly soft texture and warmth of the fur. **"My name is Kurama - and it was a...pleasure to meet you."**

The blond had no time to respond to the huge vulpine - the demon curled his fingers around the boy, plucked him out of the air and then tossed him right between his suddenly gaping jaws.

"What the…?"

His instincts screamed at him to try and escape, though deep down he knew that it didn't really matter. Even as he turned around to run, the...finality...of his situation made him stop. Usually he would've fought right to the bitter end, a paragon of determination and guts and stubbornness - and yet this time he realized there was nothing he could do - it was the bitter end.

_'I guess he still carries a grudge against me. I can't blame him. Who knows, maybe having my soul eaten by a giant demon fox is better than bleeding to death? Heh.'_

Naruto closed his eyes - he felt no need to actually watch the Kyuubi – no, Kurama! - swallow him - as the massive muzzle snapped shut, shrouding him in utter darkness.

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><p><strong>Glossary:<strong>

Konohagakure no Sato – lit. Village Hidden By Tree Leaves  
>Hi no Kuni – Land of Fire<br>Ningen – Human  
>Kyuubi no Yoko – Nine-tailed Demon<br>Kyuubi no Kitsune – Nine-tailed Fox  
>Bakekitsune – Demon Fox<br>Shinigami-sama – God of Death  
>Kami-sama – God<br>Gaki – Brat  
>Jiji – Old Man<br>Inu – Dog  
>Biju – Tailed Beast<br>Yondaime Hokage – lit. Fourth Fireshadow

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><p><strong>AN:**

Well, so much for the first chapter. The story is based on an idea that kept popping up in my brain every now and then.

Please leave a review. It would motivate me to keep writing.


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